Rotorua to Whitianga to Coromandel to Auckland - North Island New Zealand

Sat. PM 10-19-13 Auckland

We arrived in Whitianga late afternoon following our detour to Hobbiton. Whitianga is a lovely seaside town with a marina and quiant town center. We were able to get a walk in and enjoyed dinner in town. We marveled at the huge full moon that was out last night and putting on quite dance for us on the water. We were up earl this AM to catch a narrow gauge train at the Driving Creek railroad in Coromandel town. We left plenty of time because time because the roads in were very narrow and twisty. The speed limit is 100 Km but it is impossible to drive at 100 without flying right off of a cliff. We noted that GPS indicated we would be driving off road for about 23 KM but did not think much about it until we turned on the road and saw all the warning signs which include, slippery when wet, gravel road, narrow road, drive at your own risk, and my personal favorite – closed during bad weather.

We forged on at a speedy 30Km with Jon driving white knuckled. The road was not passable for two cars in many areas, and he guard rails were made of wood, with half the guard rails broken and falling over from previous accidents. We arrived in time to catch the train which was really quite a marvel. It was all hand built and track were hand laid. It was a total of 3 KM of spectacular scenery complete with tunnels, bridges and switchbacks. I have fallen in love with the Sliver Fern, the national plant of New Zealand. The fern grows very tall and somewhat resembles a palm tree. After the railway, we had a slow driving trip to Auckland due to more windy narrow roads, but we were driving the coastal explorer highway and it was really scenic. We arrived in Auckland to learn that Beyonce was having a concert across the street form out hotel, it ws the finals for the All Blacks – New Zealand’s national Rugby team, and there was a huge cruise ship in town. When we checked in and I asked the clerk if our room was the high floor with view room I requested, she quickly responded not exactly because they were sold out with the concert, but it was a very nice room. She said that tomorrow she could change our room if we not happy. Well I walked into the room, took on look at the chinese food billboard, was deafened by the street traffic and returned to see the clerk. After several minutes of the clerk assuring me the were sold out and no other rooms were available, I exercised my “firm” persuasion, and informed her that after we returned our rental car, we would be returning and that I was sure she would have a more suitable room ready for us. We returned the car then returned to the hotel, By miracle, the clerk told us she moved heaven and earth and was able to find us a suitable room with city/water view and balcony on the 11th floor – hhmmppghh imagine that. Happy Susie = Happy Jon. We settled in and were enjoying our balcony when all of a sudden the fire alarm went off. Really ? the 11th floor, no elevator access ? Everyone was evacuating, some barely dressed, but not Jon and I. We ran down 11 flights of stairs each carrying about 40 pounds of belongings with us ( I should note we were in fact the only ones of about 500 guests who did this). When the firefighters finally cleared the building and reentered, I sweat I saw that clerk smirking at me then it dawned on me, she pulled that alarm just to show me !! After shaking off the drama, we walked in to town which was packed with people. We had a hard time finding a place to eat but finally squeezed into a pub that was packed with folk watching the rugby finals. We stayed and watched most of the rugby game and talked to the locals who were all but too happy to explain the rues to us. It was a really fun evening and no time for bed.

Goodbye Rotorua

Rotorua to Whitianga

En route Whitianga

Jon

A partridge not in a pear tree

Roadside

Roadside hiking path

View from the top of the path

Whitianga !

Jon in Whitianga

Whitianga

Whitianga marina

Now this is what I call a burger with fries !

Whitianga

Rising moon Whitianga

Whitianga

Whitianga to Coromandel railroad

A very sturdy guard rail to protect us from going over the cliff

En route Coromandel

Bee houses en route to Coromandel

Love this fern design in my coffee

Driving Creek railway - Coromandel

One crowded train

And we are off !

I loved these silver ferns

Silver ferns

Fork in the road

View from top of mountain

The train

End of the rail - we had to do several hitch backs on this trip

Railway tunnel

jon

The railway gauge was very narrow !

Driving through the Coromandel en route to Auckland

Coromandel

Coromandel - hillside of flowers

Mon. 10-21-13 Auckland Airport

Sitting here waiting for out direct flight back to Orlando via a 12 hour flight to Tokyo, followed by a twelve hour flight to Toronto where we spend the night followed by our final leg from Toronto to Orlando.

Our last day in Auckland was blast ! We spent the day walking around and down by the waterfront. Our highlight was being provided a private harbor tour in a small coal fired steam powered tender. It was part of the maritime museum which we also really enjoyed. We loved Auckland and Jon thought he might like to live there.

It has been a fabulous trip ! Lots of mishaps, but lots of wonderful memories were made in the process. We were glad D & D shared part of the journey with us and hope they are willing to venture out with out us again somewhere, sometime ! This was a once in a lifetime trip for us and wonderful way to celebrate our 20th anniversary. Stay tuned for the next 20 years of travels and adventures as we remain – Convivially yours !